SafetyNet 301

SafetyNet 301, November 13, 2014Welcome to SafetyNet 301. We hope our subscribers
find the journal interesting and useful. If you have any comments or
suggestions, please send them in to Renata ohsinfo@vthc.org.au

Union News

Truck driver killed in accident A truck driver was
killed early Friday morning after the cab of his prime mover cement tanker
burst into flames after the fuel tanks were ruptured in a crash in Port Melbourne.
The tanker was leaving the Cement Australia facility when it collided with a
car at about 5.30am near Lorimer Street, west of the Bolte Bridge. Victoria
Police said the force of the collision sent the truck crashing into a tree. The
man was a long-term employee of Cement Australia. The driver of the car was unhurt, but was
taken to hospital in shock. Because the
crash occurred on a public road, the death will be counted in the road toll,
and not as a work-related fatality. Source: ABC News online

Queensland: child killed by forkliftOn Monday Workplace Health and Safety
Queensland announced that it was investigating a tragedy that occurred on
Saturday 8 November at a rural property at Lynford, in the Brisbane Valley. A
two-year-old child was killed by a forklift which was accidentally set in
motion - this should never have occurred. The regulator warns individuals
and organisations to consider the effectiveness of isolating plant and vehicles
and providing a safe play area for children. WHS Queensland Alert

Grocon
to plead guilty over fatal wall collapseAccording to reports in this week's Age newspaper, construction company
Grocon will plead guilty to at least one criminal charge over a wall collapse
at a building site that killed three people on March 28 last year. On Wednesday
one arm of the Grocon group already pleaded guilty over the incident that
caused the deaths of three people who were outside Grocon's building site at
the CUB Brewery in Swanston St, Carlton: Alexander Jones, his sister, Bridget,
and French academic Marie-Faith Fiawoo.

The plea came at the start of a committal
hearing in Melbourne. Three arms of the Grocon group – Grocon Pty Limited,
Grocon Builders (Vic) Pty Ltd and Grocon (Victoria Street) Pty Ltd – have each
charged with breaching Section 23 (duties to 'other persons') and Section 26
(duty to the workplace is safe and without risks to health). The court was informed Grocon (Victoria
Street) Pty Ltd would plead guilty – and that the VWA would withdraw the charges against the other arms
of the construction group.

Ask
RenataHello Renata,My employer has said the annual refresher
course for HSRs is compulsory - is this right? The company has also implemented a Policy that
allows them to "stand down" a HSR until they have completed the
course. Can they do this?

The answers are
NO and NO.

Under the
Victorian OHS Act HSRs are ENTITLED to attend the training of their choice and are
ENTITLED to attend it on paid leave. This entitlement applies to both the five
day Initial course when they are elected, and the one day refresher course each
year after that.

Under the Act, a
person becomes an HSR the moment he or she is elected by the members of the
DWG, and is ENTITLED to exercise all of the rights and powers of an HSR from
that point on. This includes issuing PINs, ordering a Cease Work, undertaking
an inspection, calling an inspector, being consulted by the employer, and so
on.

It is strongly recommended
that an HSR immediately organise to attend the five day course – and that a
union based or VTHC course be chosen – giving the employer the required 14
days' notice. The more knowledge an HSR has, the better that HSR is able to
deal with issues. We also recommend that HSRs take up their right to attend an
annual refresher course. However, even if a person does not attend any
training, that person is still the HSR, and has the right to exercise all the
rights and powers under the Act.

(Note that under
the WHS legislation, an HSR cannot issue a PIN or a Ceasework until such time
as he or she has completed the Introductory 5 day course… but this is NOT the
case under the Victorian OHS Act).Read more: OHS
Reps Right to Training

Please send any
OHS related queries in to 'Ask Renata' - your query will
be responded to as quickly as we can – usually within a couple of days.

Asbestos NewsHospital workers contract asbestos related diseases
SafetyNet reported last week that
just like in many other public and private buildings, asbestos is widespread in
Australia's hospitals. This week, the ABC's 7.30 followed up with a story that
a growing number of Australians who worked in hospitals tainted by asbestos are
being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mr Russell Mills, former Corporate
Secretary at NSW's Concord Hospital, a mesothelioma sufferer, says in the program: "My
message for people who think that this is just some scare campaign is that they
should come and spend a day in my life. The life of an administrator who
thought that he was just going to be doing managerial work in a hospital, never
dreamt that he was going to get asbestos and then get mesothelioma. Spend a day
in my shoes and see whether or not you think it's just a big beat up. It's no
beat up, it's a major issue."Read more: Asbestos diseases
strike hospital workers across Australia ABC 7.30

ACT: asbestos discovered in imported building
materialAfter identifying building
materials imported for use in a commercial construction job contained asbestos,
ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe has warned the Canberra community and
building industry to be diligent when ordering building products from overseas.
"The builder, who was engaged to install a modular unit and some wall sheeting,
suspected the materials supplied to him by the client may have contained
asbestos. When he had a sample tested by an asbestos assessor the test results
came back as positive for chrysotile asbestos," Mr McCabe said. "A further
supply of the same materials, stored in an off-site unit, were tested and also
came back positive for asbestos. A Prohibition Notice has since been issued to
secure the area and restrict access to the unit."Read more: ACT Media Release

ASEA Conference: November 16 – 18, 2014ASEA's 1st
International Conference on Asbestos Awareness and Management: "Working
towards an asbestos free Australia" (Crown Casino) is on
next week. If you're not able to attend, watch this space, as we will report on
the event and any news. Renata will be there as a panellist for Asbestos and
"DIY" session – and she is also very keen to listen to and meet the
international keynote speakers. Asbestoswise will also be present at the ASEA
stand – happy to give information and advice. Read more: ASEA
Conference including
program information, and registration details.

Asbestos Awareness Week: November 24 - 28Please remember
the annual Asbestos Awareness Week. There are a few events scheduled during the
week - but if you can't attend one of these, then do something your workplace: a
minute's silence for the thousands of Australian workers and members of the
community who have become victims of this toxic substance; doing a 'spot check'
of any possible asbestos in your workplace; checking that your employer has an up
to date register as required by the regulations; or a short information and
training session. Read more: Asbestos
Awareness Week 2014

Want to know about Asbestos laws and more
– go to the Asbestos section on
the site.

Firefighters and Greens
sceptical of Napthine promiseVictoria's Deputy Premier Peter Ryan announced last week that if
the Coalition Government was re-elected on 29 November, it would introduce
"presumptive legislation" providing automatic workers' compensation
to career and volunteer firefighters who contracted certain types of cancer. This
is a stunning back-flip in that this government has to date steadfastly
resisted all efforts to introduce this legislation.

United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall said he wanted
to see details. "We remain wary of the Napthine government when, on the
eve of legislation being introduced last year, they announced assessment panels
for firefighters with work-related cancers," he said in a statement. "It
is a surprising turnaround after the Liberals voted down a Greens bid to
implement similar legislation last year."

Victorian Greens MP Colleen Hartland, who introduced similar
legislation, welcomed the announcement but said it was purely cynical given the
government fought it for three years.Read more: Vic
firefighters guaranteed cancer compo news.com.au

Police acknowledge sexual harassment in forceChief Commissioner Ken Lay today announced that Victoria Police will be the subject of a review into sexual harassment and predatory behaviour within the force. The review will be conducted by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, will examine sexual harassment, predatory behaviour and sex discrimination within the force and set up a new taskforce to investigate complaints. Read more: Victoria Police review to examine sexual harassment, predatory behaviour ABC News Online

Enough is enough: alcohol harm survey launchedIn the largest survey of alcohol harm in emergency departments undertaken in Australasia, the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) has demonstrated that alcohol harm is having a devastating effect on patients and clinicians in Australia and New Zealand. In the survey of over 2000 ED doctors and nurses, released last week at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, 92% of respondents reported having experienced assaults or physical threats from drunk patients in the last 12 months and 98% had experienced alcohol-related verbal aggression. The ACEM has produced a video "Time for Change" in which medical staff talk directly of their experiences and the risks of abuse and violence by intoxicated patients/friends. Incidents reported include:

a heavily pregnant ED nurse threatened with being punched in the stomach

an ED physician knocked unconscious and left with concussion and vomiting

a heart attack patient too intimidated by a drunk patient in the next cubicle to ask for help.

Worker underpaid almost
$57k not allowed to go to the toiletAn 18 year old shop
assistant who worked for a Northland (Preston) retailer was paid only $10 an hour and not even
allowed toilet and other breaks. The resultant underpayment was $56,837.67 – more than 40 per cent of
her total entitlement for the period she worked. Federal Circuit Court judge
Suzanne Jones has fined the owners of retailer Bad Workwear, Fardin and Beverly
Soleimani, almost $40,000 for breaches of employment conditions - and they also had to pay the young woman what she was owed. Judge Jones
said, "The ... failure to provide meal breaks made it difficult for her during
her employment to eat or rest properly or indeed go visit the toilet."

Under occupational health and safety legislation, an employer must
provide safe and healthy systems of work – this includes rest and meal breaks,
and ensuring employees can go to the toilet when they need to. Read more: Rest/meal
breaks - what am I entitled to?

International Union NewsMauritius: This is what exploitation looks like As
the exploitation of garment workers in Mauritius comes under fresh scrutiny in
a British newspaper, the reality is in fact worse than reported says
IndustriALL Global Union. The Daily Mail
exposé found that women garment workers producing a T-shirt with the slogan
"This is what a feminist looks like" for upmarket UK fashion chain Whistles,
were earning just US$1/hr – less than a quarter the average Mauritian wage - and
sleeping 16 to a room in bunk beds. Union leader Jane Ragoo from IndustriALL
Global Union Mauritian affiliate, CMCTEU, says: "It is outrageous. Just because
a t-shirt is expensive and bears an ethical message, doesn't mean it is made
ethically. Garment workers in Mauritius, who are mostly women, are working very
long hours on very low pay."Read more: Feminist t-shirts 'sweatshop' row Daily Mail This is what exploitation looks like IndusriALL

Indonesia: Rio Tinto facing
strike over safety concernsIndustriALL Global Union
is calling on Rio Tinto to speak publicly about what it will do to end the
string of deaths at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia. The mine is now facing a
strike over safety concerns. Indonesia's Chemical, Energy, and Mine Worker Union
(CEMWU) announced it would begin a one-month strike at the mine on 6 November
due to mine management not being held responsible for the fatalities. Five
miners died at the copper and gold mine in September. This brings the total
number of workers killed at the mine over the last two years to a staggering
38.

IndustriALL is not the first organization to hold Rio Tinto
accountable for irresponsible practices at Grasberg. Norway's state-owned
pension fund sold its entire $850 million stake in Rio Tinto in 2008 because
Grasberg discharges huge amounts of tailings directly into a natural river
system. In 2006 the fund sold its stake in Freeport for the same reason.Read more: Time
for Rio Tinto to end dead silence on Grasberg fatalities IndustriALL

UK: Action call after rise
in work's casualtiesNew official statistics
on workplace illness and injury levels paint a worrying picture, the UK's peak
union council, the TUC, has warned. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) stats
reveal that the number of injured/ill workers is rising, reversing a long-term
downward trend. And while new cases of work-related illnesses and self-reported
injuries have both risen to much more than in 2010/11, enforcement action has
fallen. Although the number of immediate fatalities remains low, there has not
been a fall in the number of disease-related deaths. TUC general secretary
Frances O'Grady said: "The rise in illness and injury should be a wake-up call
demanding stronger regulation and enforcement for rogue bosses who put their
staff at risk." She added: "The Health and Safety Executive does an excellent
job with its resources, but the government's decision to reduce the number of
inspections is allowing more rogue bosses to get away with it. It's both a human
tragedy and a false economy to continue with two million people living with an
illness caused by work, and 600,000 new workplace injuries a year."

HSE says an
estimated 28.2 million working days were lost due to work related ill health or
injury in 2013/14; and approximately 13,000 people a year die through
work-related ill-health – 100 times the annual work fatalities toll. Almost
half a million people suffered workplace-related stress, depression or anxiety
last year; around half were new cases. HSE put the cost of work-related injury
and ill-health caused by "current" workplace conditions at £14.2bn (A$26bn),
although it has been criticised for leaving the considerably higher costs of
work-related road traffic accidents and occupational cancers – many caused by
relatively recent and continuing exposures - out of its headline figure.Read more: TUC
news release

Research

Study on firefighting exposures and
breast cancerAfter five of her colleagues
contracted breast cancer in just a few years, a female firefighter in San
Francisco contacted the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation.
In 2012, the Foundation, together with United Fire Service Women and a number
of environmental health and cancer advocates, had begun to investigate growing
concerns about premenopausal breast cancer cases within the fire department.
The result was the grant-funded Women
Firefighter Biomonitoring Collaborative Study, the first study of its kind
to measure chemical exposures, including those chemicals linked to breast
cancer among women firefighters.

The
San Francisco Fire Department is particularly well suited for this type of
study, having the largest number of women firefighters - about 225 - in the US.
Currently, the collaborative is in the
midst of collecting blood and urine samples as well as gathering health and
behavioural information from 80 San Francisco women firefighters and 80 city
office workers, who will serve as the study's control group.

Researchers
will be looking at three specific classes of chemicals – all possible contributors
to mammary gland tumors. The first are flame retardants, which firefighters are
exposed to via firefighting equipment and in the burning of everyday household
items that contain the chemicals. The second are perfluorinated chemicals, also
known as PFCs, which are used to make products more resistant to stains and
water and are commonly found in sofas, mattresses, carpets and in firefighting
materials. The third are products of combustion and diesel exhaust. (A firefighter can be stationed next to a fire truck exhaust for
hours at a time as she or he pumps water onto a fire.)Read more: San Francisco women
firefighters take part in first study on firefighting exposures and breast
cancer The Pump Handle Women
Firefighter Biomonitoring Collaborative

Regulator News

VWA's Health and Safety
Week Presentations The VWA has now loaded some
of the presentations from Health and Safety Week onto its website: these can be
downloaded from the "Find a Session" page. Amongst the presentations available for download
are:

Safety Soapbox The latest edition of
VWA's Safety Soapbox was sent out late yesterday (November 12) Tony Cockerell
from the Authority's Construction Practices Unit has an
item on the high risk pre-Christmas period and asks the construction industry
to be extra vigilant during this time The newsletter also has news on the
Awards, the Safety Week presentations, its regular 'Absolute Shocker', and
more.

There were 44 incidents notified
to the VWA since the last edition, for the period October 23 – November 5,
including a worker having his thumb amputated, several lacerations, fractures
and crush injuries, electric shocks, falls and near misses.
November 12 Safety Soapboxedition online: including link to the
list of reported incidents

Inspectors target and Echuca/Moama and
BenallaInspectors from
the Victorian WorkCover Authority and WorkCover NSW will visit construction worksites
in Echuca and Moama from Monday next week to talk to employers and employees about workplace safety
– particularly targeting prevention of falls. The visits are part of the VWA's
Cross Border project, aimed at educating employers and workers about
construction site safety requirements on each side of the border. VWA Regional Operations Manager Trevor Butler
said the construction industry was overrepresented with fall-related workplace
deaths and injuries. "Of more than 80
serious injury claims in the construction industry in the Campaspe region over
the past five years, more than 15 per cent were the result of falling from
heights," Mr Butler said.Read more: VWA
News

And from 1
December VWA inspectors will be in Benalla offering health and safety
information and advice to local workplaces.
This is part of VWA's ongoing Safe Towns campaign, designed to help
employers and workers better understand their roles and responsibilities in
promoting workplace safety and to explain the support services available to
help injured workers get back to work. VWA
Regional Operations Manager, Brooke Grey, said inspectors visiting Benalla
would focus on helping Benalla workers avoid injuries caused by poor manual
handling and from slips, trips and falls. "Musculoskeletal-related injuries
accounted for more than 37 per cent of all injury claims across Benalla in
2013-14. Many of these were caused by activities that led to unnecessary body
stressing," Ms Grey said.Read more: VWA
News

Safe Work AustraliaAustralia-wide fatalitiesAs of November 12, 147
fatalities had been notified to Safe Work Australia – three more since November
5. The fatalities: 41 in Transport, postal and warehousing; 32 in Agriculture,
forestry and fishing; 22 in Construction; 14 in Mining; 11 in Manufacturing; eight
in Arts & recreation services; five in Accommodation & food services;
four in Wholesale Trade; three in Electricity, Gas & Water Services; two each
in Health care/social assistance and Public administration and services; and
one each in Administrative and support services; Government administration
& defence; and 'other services'.Read more: Safe Work Australia Work-related
fatalities

The latest monthly fatality
report released by SafeWork Australia remains that for July. Monthly reports
can be downloaded from the Safe Work Australia Monthly Fatalities Reports page.

SWA Report: Work-related fatalities associated with
unsafe design of machinery, plant and powered tools (2006-2011)Safe Work Australia this
week released the Work-related fatalities
associated with unsafe design of machinery, plant and powered tools, (2006-2011) report. Of the 523
fatalities examined in this study, 36 per cent or 188 fatalities were found to
be either definitely or possibly design-related, meaning that these fatalities
would probably not have occurred if the risks of the equipment involved had
been eliminated through safe design.

According to the
report the most common causes of design-related deaths were:

From the VWA:More information about Health Surveillance- the publication provides information on which substances require health surveillance to be carried out. However, the publication refers to Schedule 3 of the National Model Regulations for the Control of Workplace Hazardous Substances – which have been replaced by the chapter on Hazardous Chemicals in the WHS Model Regulations.

From NT Work Safe: a Safety Alert on Working under Heavy Vehiclesto highlight the risk of serious crush injuries associated with working underneath heavy vehicles when measures have not been taken to immobilise the vehicle. This was issued after a truck driver was killed while repairing the underside of his trailer on a decline..

OHS Prosecutions

Victorian Prosecutions1 – Two engineering firms
negligent in worker's fatal fallThe
media reported this week that two national engineering firms failed in their
County Court bid to deny responsibility in the tragic death of 30-year-old
Sonny Swaanebeck who plunged 40 metres when a large rig suddenly collapsed on a
Southbank (Vic) building site in May 2011. Frankipile and Vibropile - both owned by
Keller Australia – now face heavy penalties over the fatality. They have been
found guilty on charges of negligence and are awaiting sentencing.
Investigations following the incident by the Victorian WorkCover Authority
found that 10 crucial bolts were never installed in the most vulnerable section
of the massive pile-driving rig before the mast snapped and the 30 year-old New
Zealand-born worker fell to his death.

After
weeks of evidence in the County Court, a jury found the two ground engineering
companies guilty of failing to provide safe systems of work and failing to
provide adequate information, instruction, training or supervision. Lawyers for
Frankipile said the company had rolled out significant improvements to its
safety systems and had received awards for workplace safety – no comfort for
the young worker's family. The maximum penalties imposed on each company could
be up to $1.1 million. Judge Peter
Wischusen will hand down his sentencing of the guilty companies later this
month. Read more: Engineering
firms guilty of negligence over 40-metre fatal fall in Southbank The Age

2 – Fine for putting
safety of other persons at riskOn
28 August 2013, Fraser & Mountain Pty Ltd (Fraser) employees were
undertaking works at Monash University, including on level 2 of the Menzies Building.
One of the jobs being done there was the removal of two four inch steel pipes,
approximately 2 metres in length. Employees of Fraser cut the bottom of one of
the pipes, which then fell down onto the plaster of the ceiling of the floor
below. They then cut the top of the pipe which also fell, hitting the smaller
piece, punching it through the plaster and causing it to fall to the area
below, almost hitting a student.

On
5 November 2014, Fraser pleaded guilty to one charge under Section 23(1) of the
OH&S Act 2004. The company was, without conviction, fined $40,000 (plus costs
of $3,245) in the Moorabbin Justice Centre.Source: The VWA Prosecution result summaries

Tasmania:Road worker fatality, action against company
Work Safe Tasmania is prosecuting the employer of road worker who was struck
and killed by a ute in February last year. The driver later pleaded guilty to negligent
driving causing death, was given a three-month suspended sentence and lost his
licence for a year.

Launceston-based
Venarchie Contracting has been charged a category-two offence, the second most
serious workplace safety charge, carrying a fine of up to $300,000. According to court documents the worker, who was
standing in the centre the road about 15 metres behind crack-sealing vehicles,
was hit by the ute when he was directing traffic. Another truck blocked the other workers' view
of him. The regulator alleges Venarchie
Contracting failed to ensure that safe systems of work were implemented,
including a sufficient traffic management plan. It also alleges the company
should have ensured signs were placed closer to the work site and not required the
worker to stand on the road in the path of vehicles. Traffic cones should have
been used to separate the worker from traffic and there should have been a
shadow vehicle with mounted lights. It is also alleged the company failed to
ensure its risk assessment included measures that would have allowed the worker
to direct traffic from the side of the road.Source: ABC News Online

WA prosecutions 1 - John Holland fined $360k for fatalityConstruction
company John Holland was this week fined $360,000 over the death of a worker at
the Perth City Link rail project. In December 2011, a worker on a John Holland
site was hit and killed by an out-of-control hi-rail vehicle that had been
built by John Holland Rail.

The
Federal Court found two John Holland entities breached the Occupational Health
and Safety Act. Justice Antony Siopis
found both companies could have done more to ensure safety in the manufacture
and operation of hi-rail vehicles. "The need to remind the … respondents
of the importance of constant vigilance in relation to workplace safety is
particularly important, because the … respondents operate in an industry which
on a daily basis requires their employees to carry out inherently dangerous
activities or to operate, and work in the vicinity of, vehicles which have the
propensity to put their lives at risk," the judgement said. "Constant
vigilance was not present in the circumstances of this tragic case. The result
was that a man lost his life."Source: ABC News
Online

2 – Alcoa sentenced and
fined for fatal fall of contractorAlcoa
Australia was last week fined $68,000 in Perth Magistrate's Court for the the
death of a contractor five years ago. On 2 September 2009, the worker was
descaling a large metal tank at the refinery with two other workers during a night
shift at Alcoa's Wagerup Refinery when he fell 25 metres through an open
manhole and died.

The
company pleaded guilty to failing to provide or maintain a safe work
environment and was sentenced and ordered to pay the fine and $5000 on 7
November. In 2012, the contractor's
employer, Transpacific Industries, was fined more than $170,000 by the Federal
Court.

3 – Company in liquidation
to be prosecuted for four deaths. WA's
health and safety regulator has been granted leave to pursue Australian
Countertop Pty Ltd, now insolvent, after four workers were fatally crushed at
its premises in less than five years.
The Supreme Court heard that in December 2011, an Australian Countertop
employee was helping a forklift operator place a 220kg stone slab on an a-frame
rack when a stone slab on an adjacent rack fell and struck him, fatally
crushing him against the first slab.
This was the fourth fatality at the employer's Bayswater premises since
2007, all were employees crushed by stone slabs.

Prior
to the last fatality, Work Safe WA had advised the employer on how to provide a
safe system of work, but the recommendations had not been adopted. The
liquidator told the Court that while he didn't object to the proceedings, the
process might be futile because the company had no assets and could not pay a
fine. The regulator argued
that it would be important to record a conviction against the employer (if a
breach of the OSH Act was proved) to make it clear to other companies in the
same or similar industries that they were liable to prosecution and substantial
penalties if they failed to take safety measures.Source: OHS Alert. Read more: Work Safe Western Australia Commissioner v Australian Countertop Pty Ltd
(in liq) [2014] WASC 413 (5 November 2014)

International News

Qatar: dragging its feet
over treatment of migrant workersSafetyNet has reported a number of times on the shocking
conditions migrant workers, including those building Qatar's World Cup
facilities, have had to endure. This week The
Guardian reports that despite Emirate claims to the contrary, Amnesty
International has warned that its progress so far is "woefully inadequate" and
accused the Gulf state of dragging its feet.

Amnesty
International's head of refugee and migrant rights, Sherif Elsayed-Ali, said
"Urgent action is needed to ensure we do not end up with a World Cup tournament
that is built on forced labour and exploitation.

"Despite
making repeated promises to clean up its act ahead of the World Cup, the
government of Qatar still appears to be dragging its feet over some of the most
fundamental changes needed, such as abolishing the exit permit and overhauling
its abusive sponsorship system," he said. "Six months later, only a handful of
the limited measures announced in May have even been partially implemented.
Overall the steps taken so far are woefully insufficient."Read more: Qatar
accused of dragging its feet over treatment of migrant workers The Guardian

Europe: Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress Campaign GuideThe European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has released material for its Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress Campaign. It says the key task of the 2014–15 campaign is raising awareness of stress and psychosocial risks in the workplace and encouraging employers, managers and workers and their representatives to work together to manage those risks. The Campaign Guide presents the main principles and objectives of the campaign. It includes definitions of stress and psychosocial risks, and contains useful facts and figures to help employers and workers in awareness-raising activities. Tackling stress and psychosocial risks creates a healthy work environment, improves worker well-being and business performance. To promote these outcomes, the main focuses of the campaign are:

To raise awareness of the growing problem of work-related stress and psychosocial risks.

To provide and promote the use of simple, practical tools and guidance for managing psychosocial risks and stress in the workplace.

To highlight the positive effects of managing psychosocial risks and stress in the workplace, including the business case.